Toy building boxes



March 1952 J. F. WINNEMORE TOY BUILDING BOXES 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 FiledJune 14, 1948 March 18, 1952 J. F. WINNEMORE TOY BUILDING BOXES 2SHEETSSHEET 2 Filed June 14, 1948 IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII/[IIIII/IIIIIIIIIIIIIII/II INVENTOR. 1722222 12201?Arrazmzy Patented Mar. 18, 1952 UNITED S TAT'ES PATEN T 2,589,588

TOYBUILDING Boxes Ju'llienT. Winnemore, Forest Glen, Md. ApplicationJune 14', 1948, serial nhiaz'guz 1- Claim. 01. 46 '-''1'9) Thisinvention relates to amusement appa ratus.

The invention is more particularly concerned with apparatus in the formof construction pieces which embody a series of building" boxes andother pieces for association'therewith;

A primary object of the invention is' to provide a plurality of buildingboxes which embody cooperating pairs thereof, one of each pair simulating the body of a house or a portion thereof, and the other of eachpair being readily" su-pported on the first in the provision of'a roof,and all of said boxes being adapted forthe' formation of structuresother than houses.

A further object of the invention is to provide a plurality of buildingboxes which are of successively smaller dimensions, whereby they can bereadily arranged in nested relation when not in use, with the resultthat they are compactly arranged for storage or transportation.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a pair of boxe dat for toyhdfise.

construction and which have open tops, one; of the boxes serving as thebody portion of ahouse and the other box being squarein'cross sectionand adapted to rest onthe dpper side edges of the first box with itsbottom and one or the other of its sides forming the" roof of the house.

A still further object of the inventio'n is to provide a pairofbuildi-ng boxes as above wherein the upper side edges of the boxforming the house body portion are inwardly and downwardly beveled atright angles for seating engagement of the roof-forming box therewith.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a pair of toyhouse-forming boxes having open upper ends, one of the boxes providingthe house body and the other box being square in cross section forseating engagement of one of its side walls and its opposite ends withthe upper free side edges of the first box, whereby the bottom and otherside wall of the second box provide the roof of the house, and the"opposite side walls and bottom of the second box being colored whichblends from light to dark and vice versa from one side edge thereof tothe other for different effects when the second box is rotated throughan angle of 90 when supporting same on the first box.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent inthe course of the following detailed description, taken in connectionwith the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is an isometric view showing the improved construction boxesarranged in the form of a house.

i V c box and as viewed fronr above thefst 'fiirther'blending' to lighadjacent he'- of reference characters; a p all Fig; '2'i's alongitudinal verti'carsectio of the boxes in nested relation" forstorage or nan-s oi tati'on. I I I, v 5 Fig. 3 is a top planviewpf theboxes-innested' relation. I g Y Fig. 4' is atransvers'e" sectional'-'viewin '-the* plane ofline' 4 4 on-Fi'g; -11 v f H "Fig. '5 anisometric view "showing a further use'oft'he co'nstructi-onboxesr Fig;6' isa top plan view offla rodfdorm g tu "f Fig. 4, the box beingeoloredor -sh a fr light adjacent one free" edge? the-bcx-and blendinginto d ai'k adjacent the intersection of a sideandthe'bottom of the boxand with a tion of the bottom and: t e othfer-s-i ea c sea.

Fig; 6-A shows a continliation oftheblending to theother' free edge ofthe bo'X-L Referring-now in detail to 'tlie drawingsbyuse i of succes'sively smaller dimensioned boxes are 'dsighated l0, H, I2, l3; Mand I 5The boxes; while-being-"adaptd e l ing of various constructions nted-yuse in house constiuction andwhi nalted I 0, I l, [2, l 3 ,and-' 4 15,learl rid-1- cated in- Fig=- The b'oxes ait-nave ope and' thesidej-efid;and; bottom-walls I are designated by the IeSPt-iV-f sdfiix I and c.

The boxes, due to their respectively smaller dimensions from box I0 tobox I5, are readily adapted for compact storage by nesting the boxes, asis indicated in Figs. 2 and 3, and when so nested sufiicient space isprovided for the storage of other small building parts, such as thechimneys I6 and I1.

When using the boxes for toy house construction, as in Fig. 1, one ormore of the boxes Ill. I2 and I4 are supported with the open endsupward, and the corresponding boxes II, I3 and I5 are placed on theboxes I0, I2 and I 4 in providing the house roofs.

While all the boxes may be square in cross section, it is notnecessarily so with the boxes [0, l2 and I4, but the roof-forming boxesII, I3 and I5 should be so formed for reasons later to ap-' pear.

The disposition of a roof-forming box on a house body-forming box isclearly indicated in- Fig. 4, wherein the bottom wall and one side wallof the box II form the roof and the major portions of the other sidewall and the open top of the box are disposed within the box I0.

An important feature of the present invention is the provision ofinwardly and downwardly directed bevels on the upper edges of the sidewalls of the house body forming boxes [0, l2 and 14. These bevels embodyrelatively wide surfaces which are at right angles to each other andwhich are for the purpose of quick and accurate seating engagement ofthe opposite end walls and one or the other of the side walls of theroof-forming box therewithr With this construction, a house, such asshown as an example in Fig. 1, may be readily constructed by quicklydropping the boxes ll, l3 and I into the open uppercends of boxes [0, l2and I4 and then laying the chimney blocks on the ridges of the roof.

It is to be noted that the opposite side walls Ina, Ru and 14a of theboxes l0, I2 and [4 are relatively thick to provide for the bevelsurfaces above referred to, and it is to be further noted that the endwalls of boxes H, I3 and I5 are relatively'thick for ample contact withone or the other of the beveled surfaces. The boxes l0, l2 and M arepreferably provided with suitable window and door markings on one side,and the boxes l2 and 14 may be similarly marked on one end. With theboxes so marked, they definitely simulate a house when set up as in Fig1, and by omitting such markings from the other sides and ends, theboxes may be set up in inverted position as in Fig. 5, wherein the facesof the boxes as seen will be plain.

The boxes, while shown as six in number, are not limited thereto, sincemore or less may be used within the scope of the invention, and theboxes may be used for play building of constructions other than thoseshown.

The boxes may be painted in the same color, but preferably the boxes l0,l2 and [4 are of different colors and the end walls of the boxes ll, l3and I5 are preferably of the same colors as their associated boxes l0,l2 and I4.

The bottom and side walls of boxes ll, l3 and I5 may preferably be ofthe same general color and such walls are preferably colored withvariable tones as illustrated in Figs. 6 and 6-A.

As indicated in these figures, the color is so blended from light todark that when the box II is placed as in Fig. 4 the lower edges of theroof sides will be light and gradually blend into dark at the ridge ofthe roof.

If, however, the box ll be turned through an angle of about itslongitudinal axis and supported on box [0 the roof will appear as darkat the lower edges and blend into light at the ridge. Such blendedcoloring of the bottom and side walls of the roof-forming boxes providefor ready change of the appearance of the house.

While I have disclosed my invention in accordance with a single specificembodiment thereof, such is to be considered as illustrative only andnot restrictive, the scope of the invention being defined in thefollowing claim.

What I claim and desire to secure by U. S. Letters Patent is: I

Amusement apparatus comprising a pair of house building boxes, each boxhaving side, end, and bottom walls and an open top, one of the boxesproviding a house body when resting on its bottom wall with its open topuppermost, the other box being square in transverse section and adaptedto be supported on the first box with one of its side walls and itsopposite ends engaging the respective opposite upper edges of the sidewalls of the first box, whereby the bottom and one of the side walls ofthe second box provide the roof of the house, and wherein the side Wallsof the first box are relatively thick and provided with inwardly anddownwardly bevelled surfaces at their upper free side edges at rightangles to each other and adapted to be engaged by the correspondinglyangled side and end walls of the second box.

JULLIEN F. WINNEMORE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 243,362 Crandall June 28, 18811,742,905 Friedel Jan. 7, 1930 2,131,349 Kreider Sept. 27, 19382,202,956 Lee June 4, 1940 Q FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 110,116Great Britain Oct. 11, 1917 450,788 Germany Oct. 14,1927

